Mafalda Valente

Abstract Deciphering the directionality of information flow in cortical circuits is essential for understanding brain dynamics, learning, and neuroplasticity after injury. However, current noninvasive methods cannot distinguish bottom-up from top-down signals across entire networks, including deep brain regions. Here, we present UltraFast Layer-Resolved Encoding (uFLARE) that combines ultrafast-fMRI with a Layer-based Connective Field (lCF) model to disentangle bottom-up from top-down signaling.

Abstract The role of subcortical structures in binaural integration is of great interest for auditory processing. The inferior colliculus (IC) is a main auditory midbrain center where ascending and descending auditory projections converge, which was suggested to encode auditory information via a push-pull mechanism between the two ICs. However, the origin of this push-pull mechanism in the brain and how it interacts with other upstream/downstream subcortical areas remain to be elucidated.

Abstract Visual perception can operate in two distinct vision modes - static and dynamic - that have been associated with different neural activity regimes in the superior colliculus (SC). The static vision mode (low flashing frequencies) is associated with strong SC activation modulated by cortical gain and inhibitory intertectal effects, while the dynamic vision mode (high flashing frequencies) evokes the continuity illusion, with associated suppression of SC neural activity.